The editorial board's look at firearm-related deaths in Cuyahoga County this year is intended to provide an informed picture of lives lost and communities affected; to highlight some of the public policy issues involved; and to examine whether gun violence is a growing public health crisis in the county.

Among the policy issues that hinder efforts to halt illegal firearm sales is the difficulty in tracing crime guns -- in part because of federal legislative impediments.

Also of concern is Ohio's failure to enact a safe-storage law to encourage gun owners to secure their firearms properly, to keep them out of the hands of minors.

The latest Cuyahoga County figures are forApril. During the month, county Medical Examiner Tom Gilson ruled that gunshots hadclaimed the lives of 12 residents. Seven were murdered; five took their own lives.

The deaths stretched from Lakewood to Pepper Pike. The victims ranged in age from 14 to 97. They were white, black and Asian Indian, according to the medical examiner. Eleven of the dead were male, one was female.

The only common denominator was the method of death: by gunshot wound.

In the first four months of 2014, Gilson has ruled a total of 41 deaths in Cuyahoga County to begun-related.

Find if there are shooting victims who lived in your neighborhood, and learn about others as well. Our fatal shooting database will be updated monthly with shootings ruled homicides or suicides in Cuyahoga County.

The majority of the victims so far this year have been male, ranging in age from 5 (the youngest homicide victim) to 97 (the oldest suicide victim).

The 37 male deaths included22 homicides and 15 suicides. The youngest suicide victim was 14 -- a Pepper Pike youth who shot himself in the head in April.

Four women have died from gunshot wounds so far this year: A 32-year-old and a 50-year-old were murdered, and a 35-year-old and a 61-year-old took their own lives, the medical examiner ruled.

The 41 closed cases for January through April are not a final figure, since Gilson still has cases under review from the beginning of the year.

As to the firearms involved, the editorial board has filed public records requests forinformation on the weapons used in some of these deaths and is still waiting for a response. In part the delay is because ongoing homicide and suicide investigations – and relatedballistic reports -- are exempt from Ohio Sunshine Laws. As well, firearms are not always recovered at crime scenes. However, these factors don't explain all the delays. We will continue to press for answers.

Then there are the infamous "Tiahrt Amendments" sponsored by then-U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, a Kansas City Republican, and attached to Justice Department appropriation bills since 2003. The provisions deny the public as well as cities and states access to some keygun-trace data, require the FBI to destroy approved gun purchaser records within 24 hours and prohibit the disclosure of multiple gun sales.

The easy availability of cheap guns in cities like Cleveland poses an ongoing law-enforcement challenge.

Durham was subsequently arrested and charged with the crime. No weapon was recovered, according to Cleveland police. But if Durham, a convicted felon who is prohibited from owning a gun, is found guilty, the question remains: How did he get a gun?

"That is one of the challenges we face in Cleveland: Keeping weapons out of the hands of people who should not have them," said city spokeswoman Maureen Harper. Despite Ohio constitutional home-rule rights, the Ohio Supreme Court has prohibited cities like Cleveland from adopting and enforcing their own gun laws.

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Ohio alsois one of only 22 states that haven't enacted child access prevention laws. Ohio House Bill 31 has been comatose in committee since its introduction on Feb. 5, 2013. The legislation -- sponsored by state Rep. Bill Patmon, a Cleveland Democrat -- requires the safe, secure storage of firearms, particularly if they can be accessed by minors.

"Do I have any insight on why it's not moving out of committee?" Patmon said. "No."

Maybe Terry Blair, the Washington Township Republican who chairs the committee, can explain the lack of action. The editorial board reached out to him but he did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

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